Enter the world of Shonku

Professor Trilokeshwar Shonku is an unlikely hero he is bald with a white beard has a cat Newton and a slightly dim servant Prahlad as companions He spends a lot of time in his laboratory perfecting inventions and then heads out to save the world for which he maintains meticulous journals It is through these journals that we get to know his exploits as imagined by Satyajit Ray and penned in Bengali This world of Shonku has now been made accessible to the English readers translated by Indrani Majumdar and published by Puffin Classics In this collection Mystery of Munroe Island and other stories Shonku battles his doppelganger meets dinosaurlike creatures and explores the secret behind UFOsAlso read Soon a film on Satyajit Rays character ShonkuAn image extracted from The Mystery of Munroe Island translated by Indrani Majumdar The dinosaur had appeared in pages of Shonku in the 1960s before it captured our collective imagination with the film Jurassic ParkPic courtesy Puffin classicsReliving Professor ShonkuThe story of Shonku was first published in 1961 in the Bengali childrenrsquos magazine Sandesh and the later stories were published in Anandamela another childrenrsquos magazine Such was its popularity that for many in that generation fascination for science developed from reading his exploits Majumdar too was a young Shonku fan ldquoShonku has always been a very avuncular figure to all of us in my generation Everything he disseminated was done so gently there was nothing didactic about it He became our instant friend and will continue to remain sordquo she sharesProfessor Shonku second left faces a mysterious aircraft in The Mystery of Munroe Island and other stories Pics courtesyPUffin classicsBut translation was an entirely different challenge she informs ldquoI read Shonku adventures in Sandesh and Anandamela and then from various compilations But reading and translating these individual stories were a completely different exercise I noticed so many minute details in case of Ray ndash you immediately notice his visual details in particular when you translate The graphic description of each city come aliverdquo she elaborates She insists that though the stories are now old and both science and fantasy have travelled Shonku still has plenty to enthrall the new reader ldquoSome Shonku plots may sound dated but not all The philosophy behind all stories will always remain intact Love for nature love for animals or rather respect for our habitat and its beings should be taught to all children and adults alikerdquo adds the Kolkatabased translatorProfessor Shonku introduces visitors to his latest work of marvel in a page from the bookScifi meets fantasyThis thought finds echo with acclaimed Bengali science fiction writer Anish Deb who considers Shonku relevant even now ldquoShonku stories are unique and carry a different taste and style and stand apart on the bookshelves crowded by fantasy and space adventure stories Shonku stories offer food for thought with a blend of entertainment and adventurerdquo he asserts He informs that Shonku arrived when Bengal was churning out fine science fiction and endured the test of time Jagadish Chandra Bose who pioneered the investigation of radio waves and made significant contribution to plant science wrote the first Bengali science fiction The next major writer of science fiction was Premendra Mitra who was the creator of the famous Ghanada stories ldquoIn fact it was Mitra who popularised science fiction among Bengali readersrdquo Deb informsMumbaibased Marathi science fiction writer Bal Phondke however does not want to categorise Shonku as science fiction though he rates it very high ldquoScience fiction according to me is based on an established scientific or technological principle which has to be stated in unadulterated fashion I personally find Satyajit Rayrsquos stories belong more to the genre of fantasy rather than science fiction Fantasy has its place in childrenrsquos literature as it appeals to the curious and adventurous traits of growing human beings The Shonku stories are fascinating and clearly capture the heart of young readers I would rate them very high on literary merit Is it essential to label them and place them in some compartmentrdquoPerhaps not because children reading in English would be lost in this fantastic world feels Reena Puri the editor of Amar Chitra Katha ldquoSatyajit Ray has created an amazing and very contemporary character in Professor Shonku He could be part of any scifi story of our times In fact some of his inventions could be already here Ray has a way of writing fiction for children which is exciting thoughtprovoking and instantly lsquoconnectiblersquo if I may coin a word Children flourish in a world of imagination They like to climb out of their surroundings and experience new worlds even while living in their own Shonku provides this spacerdquo she assuresThe Mystery of Munroe Island and other stories Satyajit Ray translated by Indrani Majumdar Puffin Classics R250Ray amp Professor ShonkhuSatyajit Ray wrote 38 Shonku stories over a period of 30 years the last one being Swarnapoori which appeared in 1991 Two Shonku stories were left unfinished Intelektron and Drexel Ilander GhatanaSatyajit Ray from Nemai Ghoshrsquos collection Pic courtesyDAG ModernProfessor Shonkhu and Gen NextA FAN SPEAKS Mumbaibased Angshuman Chatterjee 28 who is the associate editor of the physical science division of an editing company says ldquoWhile growing up it was special to read Shonku as he was our very own sciencefiction super hero As I delved more into science the science bit in Shonku might have lost its charm inducing more smirks than awe but the fiction part never lost an iota of charm and never willrdquoProfessor Shonku ON FACEBOOK This page has been liked by 144780 people and is alive with regular discussions The latest post on the page is by Tathagata Ghosh who writes ldquoOne of my biggest regrets will always be Satyajit Ray not making a Professor Shonku filmrdquo 112 people agree by liking and a chain of comments follow